THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER

New Zealand Tablet, 13 February 1913, Page 15

THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER

PRAISED BY THE IRISH LEADER Mr. John Redmond on December 13 addressed a crowded audience, almost exclusively composed of men, at the Corn Exchange, Ipswich, where he was supported by the Liberal members for the city, Sir Daniel Goddard and Mr. C. Sylvseter Home. Mr. Redmond, who was received with cordial cheers, said that he had come there at a time of great jubilation for the cause of Ireland. The previous night in the House of Commons the Committee stage of the Bill ended, and in a few more days it would be passed by an overwhelming majority of the elected representatives of the people of Great Britain. ' Think for a moment,' he continued, 'what that means, not merely for Home Rule, but generally for the cause of liberty. It seems to me— I have felt it night after night in the House of Commons— if. the spirit of Gladstone were presiding over and inspiring the movements of to-day. Think of it, the self-same week that sees the Home Rule Bill passed through the Committee stage in the House of Commons by enormous majorities of the elected representatives of the people witnesses the assembly in London of a Peace Conference to carry out Mr. Gladstone's great policy of freedom for the Balkans. Many years have passed since he tried to free Ireland j many years have passed since he tried to free the Balkans. "The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small," and we ought all of us, in my judgment, to thank God reverently that we have lived after all these years to see the coming triumphs of these great causes. It has been a severe ordeal in the House of Commons for us of the Irish Party. Everything was at stake for us. It was ' A Question of Life or Death; and we deserve no thanks for facing that ordeal; but I would like here to-night in the name of Ireland to return her heartfelt thanks to the rank and file of the Liberal Party in this country— Scotch, and Welsh—and to the members of the Labor Party in

this country, for the magnificent devotion with, which they have borne the labors of the last few months. Some of our opponents sneer at the forces at the back of the present Government— a word which they think is opprobrious, and calling them The Coalition." What does that Coalition mean? It simply means that for the first time all the real democratic forces of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland have coalesced to promote great democratic causes dear to the hearts of all these countries. I don't believe that the democracies of Great Britain and of Ireland were ever so united in purpose, intention, and spirit as they are to-day; and my firm hope and confident belief is that + he union will continue until all these great causes have been brought to triumph. For my part, therefore, I face the future with absolute confidence. We all recognise that the present position of the democratic cause generally, and in a special way the present position of the Irish cause, is due above all other human agencies to the magnificent ' Courage, Genius, and Devotion of the Prime Minister. Laden down with labors, having on his shoulders responsibility and troubles that I think no Prime Minister in a similar period of time ever had to face Labor troubles, Continental troubles, international dangers, all sorts'of thingsyet night after night he has piloted the Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons with a courage, industry, and devotion which will never be forgotten as long as his name remains on the page of history.' Mr. Redmond added that at the risk of invidiousness, he would also mention, as those to whom the thanks of Ireland were specially due, Mr. Birrell, whom Irishmen considered the best Englishman who ever came over to govern Ireland; Mr. Herbert Samuel, who had shown a most exeraordinary grasp of the whole Irish case; Sir Rufus Isaacs, and Sir John Simon, who had scarcely ever been absent from the Government bench, and had defended the Bill at every point with matchless ability and eloquence. He went on to point out that there had been in all 192 divisions upon the Committee stage of the Bill; and, taking all into consideration, including "snap divisions," the average 'Majority for Home Rule had been 115. As to the contention that the House of Commons had been "gagged" and prevented from expressing] its opinion, he urged that the Unionists had spoken 4569 columns of Hansard in the debates, which he estimated at three million words— words of wisdom, mercy, charity, and liberty, but for the most part words of ignorance, prejudice, and hatred. If there were no restriction on license of speech and power of obstruction it would take not one session to pass the Bill but four or five; it would be quite possible for these men to make the whole lifetime of a Government pass without the majority being able to carry one controversial measure into law.' Mr. Redmond also pointed to the 'dramatic and providential' manner in which the Committee stage of the Bill ended. As if to put the final touch to the destruction of the argument of religious intolerance on the part of the Catholics of Ireland towards the Protestants, Mr. J. H. Campbell, one of the members for Dublin University, agreed to abandon the amendment with regard to the exclusion of Trinity College from the operation of the Bill, which the Nationalists had accepted. Mr. Campbell's most significant statement in doing so was a happy indication of how completely the calumny about Catholics and Protestants had been blown to the winds. The truth was that the National movement in Ireland and the national tradition of Ireland had always been largely Protestant. Speaking of the Irish representation at Westminster, Mr. Redmond said that it was a symbol of the unity of the Empire, a proof that Ireland had a right to have a voice in the government of an Empire which she helped to create; and, more than that, it was a prooi, -f proof were needed, that this Home Rule Bill was the beginning, and that when the system was completed, Scotland, Wales, and England would be able for themselves to manage their own purely local affairs, and that the Imperial Parliament eventually would be a real Imperial Parliament, dealing only with great

Imperial concerns; and.that all portions of the Empire would-be represented there. 'I am not prepared,' he said, 'to surrender Ireland's right to a voice in the government of the Empire.' Mr. Redmond referred to the finance of the Bill, and spoke with strong indignation of a leaflet which he said had been placed in his hands since he arrived in Ipswich, which stated that 'the Home Rule Bill puts a yearly tax of fifteen shillings and elevenpence on every family in Great Britain.' 'Who was the man,' he asked, 'who made this statement?' (A Voice—- ' Rosenbaum,' and loud laughter, in which Mr. Redmond heartily joined.) 'Even Rosenbaum,' he said, 'was ashamed to put his name, to this document. It is an anonymous document, issued by the "Union Defence League," which is supported by large subscriptions from many so-called respectable and aristocratic gentlemen. There is no politician in England ' So Obscure or so Contemptible that he would not be ashamed to put his name to it. The Home Rule Bill cannot under any circumstances put an additional farthing of taxation on the people of this country; and the necessary result of the working of the Bill will be to save to the English people in a very short time a million and a half of money which to-day Ireland is costing them.' N - Concluding, he said: ' Ireland's past has been indeed p. sad one, a story of tragedy from beginning to end, of unmerited poverty, suffering, and misery A great writer said about Ireland: "In a climate as'soft as a mother's smile and on a soil as fruitful as God's love the Irish peasant mourns." That has been the story of Ireland; but we in the last thirty years have had another vision for our country—a vision in which we thought we saw a future when all Irishmen of all creeds and of all races would be found sitting side by side m their native Parliament, upon Irish soil, promoting the happiness and prosperity of their common country, fostering their own national pride, jealously guarding their own separate nationality, cultivating their own national ideals, their literature, their music their historic traditions, and at the same time cultivating a genuine pride in the Empire at large, of which their country would then— then only— the first time be one of the most honored, powerful, and most loyal members.' He spoke of the treatment meted out to the Irish members in the House of Commons of thirty years ago, and said: We were sustained in our hearts by the thought that our vision would be realised; and, thank God, it is at hand.'