HOME RULE

Otago Witness, Issue 3149, 22 July 1914, Page 29

HOME RULE

AMENDING BILL PASSED. CONFERENCE WITH THE KING. A. WISE AND STATESMANLIKE POLICY. ACCLAIMED BY ALL THE PRESS. PROSPECTS OF SETTLEMENT HOPEFUL. DIFFICULTIES OF AREA LIMIT. LONDON, 1 July 13. In the House of Lords, on the report stage of the amending Bill, Lord Macdonnell’s amendment, providing for proportional representation, was adopted. July 14. The House of Lords read the amending Bill a third time. July 15. In the Home of Lords, the Marquis of Crewe, in reviewing the amendments in the Home Rule Bill, said that patience and forbearance on the part of all parties were necessary. Both sides desired a settlement, even though it be one which nobody believed would represent a permanent solution of the difficulties between the two parties in Ireland. The Marquis of Lansdowne declared that nothing less than official amendments would suffice to avert danger. He complained that the Government had not uttered a word of a suggestion that exhibited a sense of the importance of the situation. They had shown themselves more hopeless, helpless, and .aimless than any previous Government in a time of crisis. Lord Morley said the amendments only embittered the relations between the parties in Ireland, and made collision the more inevitable. If this were the last word of the majority of the Lords, it would have been far better and more straightforward if they had refused the second reading. In the House of Lords, the. Earl of Dunraven’s amendment was carried, enabling the King, by Order-in-Council, to postpone Home Rule until a commission had reported upon the constitutional relations of Ireland to the rest of the United Kingdom. Earl Beauchamp opposed the amendment. He said that if there was a general desire by all parties for a conference with a view to conciliation the Government would facilitate summoning it. The Marquis of Lansdowne welcomed the offer. July 16. In the House of Commons, Mr Asquith announced that Monday and Tuesday would be allotted to the amending Bill. OFFER TO ABANDON TIME, LIMIT. LONDON, duly 18. The Cabinet has decided tentatively to move towards the abandonment of the time limit for Ulster, and has resolved to offer to allow Antrim, Down, Londonderry, and Armagh to vote as a whole for or against exclusion. It is prepared to consider grouping with this area certain Protestant portions of Tyrone and Armagh, but the Nationalists are insistent upon tho retention of the whole of Tyrone. A “ COMMAND ” CONFERENCE. TO MEET AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE. LONDON, July 20. His Majesty the King has invited the Government, Opposition, Nationalists, and Irish Unionists to a- conference at Buckingham Palace to-morrow, each to appoint two representatives. Messrs Asquith and Lloyd George, The Marquis of Lansdowne anil Mr Bonar Law, Messrs Redmond and Dillon, Sir E. Carson and Captain Craig have been selected to represent the several parties at the conference. The King’s invitation party of leaders was arranged on the Prime Minister’s advice. although the suggestion probably originated from his Majesty himself. It explains the delay in the King’s departure for Portsmouth, and is the outcome of feverish activity in Ministerial circles for the last few days. Newspapers describe the conference as effecting a complete change in tli£ immediate situation. The Opposition was not consulted beforehand, but the Unionist and Ulster leaders instantly responded to the Royal summons, and declared their resolve to do their utmost to make the conference a success. Mr Dillon was chosen as Mr Redmond’s companion because he represents more especially the older generation of Home Rulers. The Daily News was apparently not aware of the King’s invitation. It stated that Liberals required stronger evidence than that the King had delayed his journey to Portsmouth before it would believe that he was disposed to exceed his constitutional functions. If such a thing were conceivable, a new situation would no doubt arise, completely blotting out the Irish question. The Daily Citizen says the Cabinet’s secret was closely kept. No one outside the charmed circle knows the exact purport of the conference, but Mr Asquith’s statements to-day reveal an unexpected development. The week-end events have been full of significance. Including pourparlers between the party leaders, the Nationalists’ mercurial spirits varying from

gloom to assurance, and the Prime Minister’s constant attendance on the King, things have been rapidly moving behind the scenes. The Times acclaims the initiation of the conference as a vise, proper, and statesmanlike step, more likely to extricate the country from its imminent peril than any other course. “It is,” says The Times, “ the application of a principle, often happily brought in, to terminate a deadlock in industrial disputes—the intervention of a superior, independent, disinterested authority, sought in order to amicably bring parties together, and by free discussions come to an understanding. In the case of great political parties and dangerous deadlocks like the present, no one but the Sovereign could play that part, hie -alone stands in a position of superior authority, prestige, and absolute impartiality. This event is 'calculated to strengthen constitutional monarchy to the benefit of the nation. , The Morning Post says the crisis has taken a new and immensely significant turn. The hope will be general that his Majesty’s influence will suffice to achieve truly national ends in favour of which that influence is to be exerted. The writer, however, concludes by warning leaders against excessive optimism regarding the outcome of the conference. The Daily Mail says that all parties to the conference will be expected to surrender something. The time limit in the amending Bdl is already dead, inasmuch as it has been tacitly abandoned by the Liberals. The area limit will present a greater difficulty, as any proposal to divide Tyrone or include it in the Home Rule area will arouse a storm beyond Sir E. Qarson’s power to allay. The nearest parallel to the King’s action was that of Queen Victoria during the franchise crisis in 1884, suggesting at the end of October a conference of the leaders of parties in both Houses. This terminated the deadlock by November 27. King Edward’s summoning Lord Lansdowne during the Budget controversy of 1909 was after the leading politicians on both sides had visited his Majesty. Mr Asquith’s and Mr Bonar Law's interviews towards the end of last week were almost wholly restricted to details of various proposals concerning area exclusion. Nothing was then said, about a conference. The Prime Minister and Mr Lloyd George have now relinquished all other work to concentrate their efforts upon the conference. The National Executive of the Irish Trade- Union Congress at Dublin protested against the exclusion of Ulster, and summoned the workers of Ulster to resist the Provisional Government if it be established. Mr T. P. O’Connor, M.P., in an article in Reynolds’s Newspaper, says : “We are in the mood of travellers after a long voyage. The Home Rule ship has arrived in harbour, and will soon be berthed. Restlessness and acute anxiety prevails. We must reject Sir Edward Carson’s demand for all Ulster, even at the risk of facing Carson’s rifles.” MONSTER ORANGE PROCESSION. ULSTER’S DETERMINED STAND. LONDON, July 13. A procession of 50,000 people, headed by Sir E. Carson, marched to Drumbeg. , The streets were lined with spectators, and the processionists received tremendous ovations. The military were confined to their barracks. Sir E. Carson, in the course of his address, said that the Provisional Government gave him the power to exercise governmental authority to prevent the Home Rule Bill being placed on the Statute Book. He would exercise that power with unyielding determination. He would give Mr Asquith the alternative to grant them complete exclusion or to come and fight them. If the Government did not give them justice Ulster would take it. July 14. Seventy thousand attended a meeting at Drumbeg (Enniskillen), where the Marquis of Londonderry said the Lords would stick to their amendments at all costs. Thirty thousand assembled at Newton ards, 20,000 at Moira, and 10,000 at Temple Patrick. Resolutions were carried ,at all meetings pledging Orangemen to risk all in the defence of their civil and religious liberties, and calling upon the leaders to take the necessary forward steps to oppose Home Rule. It is reported that wholesale resignations have taken place in the Royal Irish Constabulary in Ulster, and that recruits are unobtainable. MISCELLANEOUS. A consignment of arms labelled “saddlery and harness” was seized at Dublin aboard a steamer from Keys ham. It is reported that four cruisers captured a cargo of rifles that were being landed from an American yacht near Teelin. One hundred and fifty thousand rounds of ammunition, consigned to Belfast, were seized at Stockton-on-Tecs. The Ulster volunteers in Glasgow have been instructed to prepare for service at any moment. Several' hundred will go to Belfast to-morrow. The Irish League in America has cabled to Mr Redmond that £20,000 has been subscribed. The meeting in Sydney in connection with the Orange celebrations despatched a congratulatory cable to Sir E. Carson, and a further donation of £SOO to the Ulster funds was announced.