HOME RULE MEETING IN BELFAST

New Zealand Tablet, 4 April 1912, Page 11

HOME RULE MEETING IN BELFAST

A MAGNIFICENT DEMONSTRATION

I The success of the Churchill meeting in Belfast ft (says the Freeman’s Journal) cannot be questioned. m The weather was very inclement, and determined efforts ■ had been made to create a scare, but there were between P 7000 and 8000 people present, and many hundreds were '• unable to obtain admission. There was a proportion of ► Nationalists in the audience, but it is admitted by the Unionist Press that members of the Belfast Trades

Council, prominent Belfast Socialists, students who are claimed as Unionists, and many well-known Belfast business people and workpeople, whose political leanings are not pronounced, were also present. From various districts throughout Ulster, as well as from Dublin, came large contingents of Home Rulers, who still prefer the name of Liberal. ’ It was, in fact, a meeting much more truly representative of the farming and trading classes of the Northern province, and especially of industrial and commercial Belfast, than any Unionist demonstration in the same city could ever claim to be. Some index to. - •

The Character of the Assemblage

could be obtained from two features of the proceedings, the cheering and the singing. Next to Mr. Churchill, the finest ovation was given to Lord Pirrie. Mr. Devlin, when'he rose to speak, was loudly cheeked, but his , popularity with the democracy of Belfast generally accounts for that. Mr, Redmond was also warmly welcomed, but there was nothing like the personal enthusiasm for him which would have been displayed by a purely or preponderatingly Nationalist gathering. . ; Mr. Churchill, as he began his speech, was unusually pale and anxious, but his voice was firm and clear. He had notes before him, but seldom referred to them. Clean cut sentences, many of them with a literary polish, flowed'' evenly and continuously. His dominant tone was argumentative and expository; There was the white heat of earnestness, but no flame. He has often exhibited more rhetorical fervor in a House of Commons

debate. His references to the character of the Home Rule Bill were listened to with the keenest attention. But here it was the matter and not the manner that

by well-dressed men who indulged in an attempt at rushing and jostling. The crowd did- not respond fully to their expectations. . The majority booed and groaned, but there was a strong minority who raised cheers when Mr. Churchill appeared. ■ So flat was this demonstration from a Unionist point of view that Sir El Carson and other Orange leaders felt bound to try again, by appearing on the balcony of the Ulster' Club, to give their loyal followers an excuse for singing and cheering. ' " ; , - :;w ' I' '' y- ■' p. t • ; When the whole story is reviewed, it tells of blunder after blunder in the- Unionist tactics, the prohibition of free speech, the announcement and abandonment of the counter-demonstration in the Ulster Hall, and the immense advertisement given to Mr. Churchill's meeting and speech^-and the trebling of his audience. t*. ;>•: All the arrangements at the Celtic Park—and-the organisation of the meeting carried out under the instruction of Mr. Henry G. Allan, the Master of Elibank’s agent, and secretary of-the Mid-Lothian Liberal Association, who has had wide experience in organising large demonstration in Scotland. , , •/. ’ . The Post Office and telegraph arrangements Tor the accommodation of over 200 press representatives, an unprecedented number, worked admirably, and a verbatim report of , the speeches reached many evening-news-papers in time for | their later editions. ; -■/

’' ' - " The Meeting. y,. " . It was arranged that the gates of Celtic Park should not be until noon, an hour before the time : fixed for the start of the meeting. By 11 o’clock, however, a large crowd had ; assembled outside the entrances,' land they b patiently waited >in the falling - rain the ' time when admission would be given to them. The numbers continued to quickly ; increase, and when the entrances were thrown open great crowds began to pour through them and to take ;up their places under the cover of the huge tent. - In . A short time the seating accommodation was occupied, but people continued, to arrive) and to content themselves with standing-room. About two hundred .pressmen were ’ seated at the tables. They included representatives of leading English and Scottish newspapers, as well J as those of American and Continental journals. The Press Association had one of the largest staffs it had ever organised, for a political meeting. It numbered' fourteen. The proportion of ladies present was not large— about one to twenty. Many of them wore the badge of the Ulster Liberal Association— Red Hand. . . . / The vast audience broke into a great demonstration of enthusiasm when, at twenty minutes past 12, Lord Pirrie proceeded on to the platform. The people rose and cheered him again and - again, and waved hats and handkerchiefs. He had come, apparently, to see whether the arrangements were perfect, and, having remained a short time on the platform, he retired to await the arrival of Mr. Churchill, Mr. Redmond, and Mr. Devlin. • ' ... • ’

At twenty minutes past 1 , there was another enthusiastic demonstration, marking the arrival of Lady Pirrie and a party of ladies and gentlemen. Lady Pirrie was accompanied by Mrs. Carlisle, Mrs. Guest (wife of the Hon. Captain Guest, M.P., Junior Liberal Whip) : Right Hon. Sir T. Shillington, P.C. ; Mr. H. H. Graham, secretary Ulster Liberal Association Mr. E. F. Whyte, M.P., Perth, Parliamentary secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty : Mr. Hamar Greenwood, M.P., and the Hon. Eustace Fiennes, M.P. When Lady Pirrie , and her party appeared the vast audience rose and cheered with, great vigor, and waved hats and handkerchiefs, as they made their way to the platform. Mr. Churchill was evidently pleased with the great Irish welcome accorded to him. In no part of the United Kingdom could he be welcomed more heartily than he. was by the Liberals and Nationalists of Belfast.

*■ ■ Striking Points of Mr. . Churchill’s Address. . " Lord ‘-Pirrie presided, . and after/ a short speech 1 introduced the First’ Lord of the Admiralty, who delivered what may-well be described as a historic address ip the course of it he gave a clear forecast of the coming Home Rule . Bill, which : he ,said would be in harmony W 1 with Imperial interests and creditable to its authors

exercised the spell upon the audience. Safeguards for the minority, and a sketch of the financial principles of the promised measure were described in detail, with a sharp eye upon his notes. After speaking for an his voice still held good. Then he referred to his father’s career, and there was a catch in his utterance which betrayed genuine emotion. The sympathy of the audience could be felt, and it was a distinct support of his brief peroration. That the speech made a deep v impression was proved by the heartiness of the oft-re-peated cheers at the conclusion, much more hearty, indeed, than those which greeted his appearance on the - platform or the beginning. Mr. Redmond was brief. Very wisely, he did not run the risk of any strain whilst in the convalescent stage. Still, his declarations punctuated by cheering, and his frank and full acceptance of Mr. Churchill’s forecast of the Home Rule Bill aroused tremendous ausiasm. Mr. Devlin is always an effective speaker, here, on-his own ground, as a Belfastman, trouncing erritorial magnate like Lord Londonderry or that F typical criminal lawyer Sir Edward Carson, he' delighted everybody. The interruption of Mr. Churchill by the % Suffragettes only emphasised "V - . The Self-Control, v Orderliness, and Unanimity ;■ of, the immense throng. They caused a little ripple of protest now and again, but either from the fewness of the interrupters or a sense of failure to disturb the speaker or the meeting they were soon discontinued. v ' : So far .as the proceeding in the city during the forenoon had any importance at all, they - were disappointing to- the Orange organisers. The rain did not .. .diminish the attendance at the meeting, but it had a dispiriting effect on the rowdies. A pre-arranged mobbing of Mr. and Mrs. Churchill at their hotel ,jyas led

)■/' :■ - Liberals had been taught by Mr. Gladstone to believe , b ‘ that the very best "solutionof Irish difficulties lay in the .- - establishment of an Irish Parliament with an ; executive responsible to it. No national barriers stood between ,3. the Irish people and the throne. 'lt was Catholic and .. Nationalist Dublin ,that gave King George his warmest - welcome in Ireland. . Liberals looked; forward to the ' time when Ireland, instead of being a disruptive force in the Empire, would be transformed into a new centre of union. They must divide their business into Imperial, which affected the Empire as a whole, and local, which affected its component parts. If the House of Commons was to hold its position as the great represenV tative assembly of ? the Empire, it must be freed from the mass of business by which its work was at present congested. Ireland stood in a different position from that of all other parts of the United Kingdom. The "" measure which might be applicable to Scotland and ' Wales would not be applicable to the needs of Ireland. v Irish Home Rule would form an" integral part of the - .Rule Bill would contain.provisions safeguarding religious s. ■ freedom and fair play for Protestants and Catholics alike. The financial proposals which they intend to include in the Home Rule scheme would involve no set-back to the revival and advance of Irish prosperity. The Home Rule Bill would give to the Irish Parliament a real responsibility in finance. The Irish Parliament ' Would 1 control large areas of taxation, and within "V reasonable limits would have power to supplement its income. The operation of land purchase would be carried through to the end upon the full security of British credit, and so would the Old Age Pensions Act. The separation of Ireland from England was absolutely impossible. The interests of the two islands were eternally interwoven. Alluding to his father’s words, ‘ Ulster will fight, and Ulster will be right,’-he said, ‘ Let Ulster fight for the dignity and honor of Ireland, let her fight for the reconciliation of races and for the forgiveness of ancient wrongs.’ After -having spoken for over an hour to an audience that listened with almost breathless attention to every sentence he uttered, Mr.

Churchill resumed his seat and all - present applauded vociferously. Mr. John Redmond, M.P., who followed, thanked the First Lord for his magnificent advocacy of the Irish cause, and said he cordially welcomed his statement and accepted every word of it; ' ' ' . ;■ Stirring speeches were then delivered by Mr. Devlin and others, and the great meeting came to a close. •