The Use of Force.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 86, 2 April 1914, Page 5

The Use of Force.

IN THE ULSTER QUESTION.

NEVER CONTEMPLATED.

(By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] [United Press Association ] London, April 1.

Sir Edward Grey, speaking as the leader of the House, said he did not know that the last word had absolutely been said by the Government, but beyond the hexennium he was not prepared to go to the country. They must settle the question at the end of the hexennium. They would agree to anv settlement except that which would not place the Bill on the Statute Book. Force had not provided a solution in the past, and he looked on it with the gravest reluctance and almost despair of any solution of the Ulster problem by force. The embarkation on a policy of actual coercion to make Ulster submit to an authority when it was determined to resist that force was a grave, serious, and ominous thing. . lie had never contemplated the use of force until after an election, and could not conceive any Government embarking on such a policy without first consulting the country. Sir Edward Grey, continuiilg, said that if a provisional Government were established in Ulster, or if a disturbance occurred before the Irish Parliament was inaugurated, the Army must uphold the authority of the Crown. If ever the Array, or a largo section of the Army, took active sides between political parties, the country would be faced with a more serious and a graver question than had been in three centuries.

Lord Hugh Cecil asked if the Government would definitely and precisely put forward a proposal in regard to the exclusion of Ulster by consent. It might he that both sides were agreed on tho principle, hut differed only as to the machinery. The Unionists were opposed, as ever, to Home Rule, but anything was hotter than dissolution or civil war. IN THE LORDS. London, April 1. In the House of Lords, Lord Curzon said that Mr Asquith’s assumption of the War Office portfolio was publicspirited, and he hoped it would result in the dissipation of the mystery and iptrigue there, and end a cowardly campaign against the Army, Lord Morley said that as Colonel Seely’s second resignation was duo to a desire that it should not appear that a Minister of the Crown had made a bargain; and as Colonel Seely had absolved him; from being a party to complying with Brigadier-General Gough’s request, he was not justified, in resigning. . , v . ; , ■ ;j

Lord Loreburn, appealed for a compromise. He did not believe in the existence either of a military plot or a Government plot to provoke Ulster. Both sides had reached the conclusion to leave the settlement to a future Parliament, whether Ulster should remain in or out, but it was quite impossible to fetter any future Parliament with a difference that threatened civil war and a danger of a foreign war. ... ... / , r> Lord Lansdowne said it was not the Unionists who tampered with the Army, but the Government, who approached the officers with their hypothetical questions.

Lord Crewe said that at a Cabinet meeting on March 16 a proposal by the military authorities to reinforce the small garrisons raised the question as to whether the movement might be regarded as provocative. The military opinion was that they thought it might but those responsible for the maintenance of order thought otherwise, The latter were correct, because Ulster was not regarded as provocative. The Government rightly or wrcngly abstained from interference with the Ulster volunteer movement, believing that it would destroy any hope of agreement, but no Government could neglect precautions or look tamely on when an unauthorised force might seize a part of the Kingdom and create an administration of its own. Mr Asquith had now summoned General Paget to London to obtain a full account of what occurred. He concluded by expressing his belief in the possibility of a permanent settlement of the Irish question without anything that could be called surrender by the Government.

THE FEDERAL IDEA.

London, April 1

Sir Edward Grey’s allusion to a federal solution is regarded in the lobbies as an improved prospect of settlement by consent. Unionist papers note the changed temperature indicated in the speech. A meeting of fifty Unionist Commoners favored a settlement on federal lines.

It is understood that an amendment on the subject will be tabled in the debate on the second reading of the Home Rule Bill. Bands of militant and non-militant suffragettes have invaded Mr Asquith’s constituency, preparatory to the election. ■ I ANOTHER RUMOUR DENIED. CHEERS FOR THE KING AND ASQUITH. Delhi, April 1. A communique denies the London rumors of Lord Hardingo’s message Ire Army resignations, j The National Liberal Club, Lord Lincolnshire presiding, carried a rei solution saying that members viewed