NATIONALISTS DECLARE FOR INDEPENDENCE.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 14147, 26 July 1916, Page 5

NATIONALISTS DECLARE FOR INDEPENDENCE.

STATEMENT BY Mr' REDMOND

MR. LLOYB. GEORGE ON THE

NEGOTIATIONS.

THE CABINET UNANIMOUS.

(Australian and N.Z. Cable Association)'

(Received July 25, 8.50 p.m.) London, July 25.

I.lr Redmond, in moving the adjournment, said he wished to make a dispassionate statement of the facts. After Mr Asquith's return from Ireland: and Mr Lloyd George's negotiations, everyone was thrilled by the hope that ths Irish question would be put out of the way until 'the war was concluded: Mr Lloyd George's proposals were in no sense his or Sir Edward Carson's proposals. The Government two months ago urged the- necessity for a quick decision-; The agreement was, in the words of Mr Asquith,,for a provisienal settlement until the war was over. .That was the chief feature of foe plan, without which neither he noi" his colleagues would have considered; it an agreement. It was plain and unmistakable - .that the amending Bill should remain in force during the con-) tinuance of the war' and for a year; afterwards. When Sir Edward Carsonl objected that the six Ulster counties would thus automatically come into' the Home Rule Act if Parliament took' no steps within a year after the war, the Nationalists assented to the addition of a provision that the duration of the amending Bill should be ..extended by,'-Order-iii-Council until Parliament! dealt with the six counties.. 'The Nationalists ~<lid not desire to coerce any; Ulster county which objected to Home! Rule, hut they never contemplated the( idea that this great question should? be .foreclosed and settled now. Another; fundamental proposal was that during the! period of transition the number ofi Irish members of the House -of Com--mons should not be reduced. : ' ;

'•On 'the very -day I returned to Loru

"CABJLE "NEWS.-

[Pbess Association —Goftbiuhx.)

- • ' ' " <sda, ?> Mr Redmond continued, "I was

faced with Lord Lansdowne's proposal

that & clause .should be inserted in the Bill providing for the full maintenance ,of Imperial authority over the Army and Navy, though this matter was fully covered by tho 1914 Act. Rather than break down the agreement, I assented to a declaratory clause of the kind Lord Lnnsdowiie desired. "1 believed that all the obstacles to the im r^ mediate introduction of the Bill • had

been. removed. But like a bolt from

the blue came Lord Lansdowne's " speech in the .House of Lords, declaring that the Bill would make certain structural alterations in the 19M Act which would be permanent and endurable. Some days later I received an extraordinary message from the Cabinet that a number of new proposals would be brought forward. When I asked the nature of the proposals I was' in- {. formed that the Cabinet did not desire

' to consult me until an agreement had been reached. I received the next communication on Saturday,/ when Mr Lioyd George and Mr Herbert Samuel requested me to call at the War Office. They said the Cabinet had decided to insert two entirely new provisions in the Bill.. One provided for. the permanent exclusion of the Ulster counsl63, and the other cut out of the draft of the Bill the provision for the attendance of the Irisa members in full force at "Westminster' during the

transit-cry i was given to understand that this action, was absolute and final The Government's action

was bound to increase the Irish suspicion of the. good faith of British statesmen." !

If the Government introduced the Bill on the lines communicated to him he would oppose it at every stage. Henceforward the Nationalists would feel it their duty to exercise independent judgment in criticising the everincreasing vacillation and : procrastination which seemed to form the entire policy of the GbverimenVnot' onlywith reference to Ireland but in the whole conduct of the war.

Mr. Lloyd George said Mr Redmond's ' narrative was substantially accurate except in one or two particulars. He j hoped the; agreement, had only broken ' down temporarily. (Nationalist laugh-, ter):" It would be disastrous if in the | middle of a great war we should be diverted from giving our whole ener- j gies to the prosecution of the war by \ the necessity to discuss a matter of domestic strife. He agreed with Mr Redmond that the arrangement should be provisional and that the whole situation should be reviewed at the end of the war. It -,v as contemplated that a conference representing the whole of the self-governing Dominions should discuss tho final settlement; not that the conference should decide, as only the Imperial Parliament could decide, but that we should have the assistance and experience of the colonies. It was also made perfectly clear-that the Ulster counties should never be automatically included. (Nationalist cries: No; no.) Mr Lloyd George: That was in accordance with the terms Mr-Asquith announced in the House of Commons/ . Mr ..Redmond: The intention of all of •us was that the provisional arrangement should remain in existence until a permanent settlement was finally deter ruined.

Mr Llyd George said that under no conditions were the six Ulster counties to come under Home Rule Government against their will. The present agreement had fallen through not because of any difference in substance, but because _they could not arrive at a form of words which would enable the agreementjto be carried out.

Mr Redmond interjected: Why not put the form of words approved by ourselves and Sir Edward Carson into jhe Bill?

Mr Lloyd George: There is a great difference between drafting a form of words on foolscap, containing the heads $Eg settlement and drafting an Act of Parliament. •"■ - . f _ ."

Referring to the Irish_ representation at Westminster, Mr "Lloyd George admitted ' thatthe head-of the settlement had been departed from. This was done because it was found that the Unionist members of the Cabinet found it quite impossible to support a proposal •which maintained the Irishmen in xinrlimmish&d numbers in the Imperial Parliament after the general election. It might make all the difference between a Liberal or. Unionist Government. (Loud Nationalist cheers and cries of, "This is .-patriotism-, and no party. What about tlia war now?")

Mr Lloy d George continued:. The Unionists this would be most unfa*u\ I hiwe never deviated from the cardinal point that the Ulster counties must be (^Unitely,- . strtiok out- of the Home Rule Act. If a subsequent Parliament desired-it would put them in again vfhii the goodwill of Ulster, or by coercion Parliament • could do so. The' Nationalists knew the unanimous

decision of the Cabinet now. "It- would be a good day for Ireland if Mr Redivovid and myself were to sbtak© iiands on the floor of the House. (Loud, cheers): But if this .is done there must bo no ide-K.nf coercing Ulster, tot Ulster be bodily struck out

CAB-IrE/NEWSi!?;

(Pbmss Absooiaxios —Cgptbighi.J i ■ •

of the Bill and v let tile- Nationalists win over Ulster if they can." - ;