HOME RULE IMPREGNABLE

New Zealand Tablet, 21 October 1915, Page 11

HOME RULE IMPREGNABLE

MR. REDMOND ON THE PRESENT DUTY OF PATRIOTS.

Mr. John Redmond addressed a convention of delegates from the branches of the United Irish League in the County of Waterford, at Waterford,on August 23. He was presented with addresses from the County Council, the City Corporation, and the United Irish League, expressing confidence in him and the party of which he is leader. He said he felt that under the stress and strain of war the voice of ordinary party controversy should be silent, because until the war was victoriously ended they could have no hope of liberty or prosperity in the country. There were two things that Ireland should realise. The first was that the position of Irish national self-government was impregnable, and the second was that their first duty was to take their part in ending the war. Not only had Ireland's claim been admitted by the British democracy; the demand had passed into law. They had heard lately something about the Suspensory Act and the threatened Amending Bill.

The Suspensory Act.

Some people seemed to misunderstand what the Suspensory Act was. The Act provided that the operation of the Home Rule Act and the Welsh Church Act should be suspended for one year, and if at the expiration of the year the war had not ended, then they should be suspended for such further period as might be fixed by the King in Council, the words of the Act being, ' later than the end of the war.' ' Therefore,' said Mr. Redmond, ' the Suspensory Act provides that the operation of the Home Rule Act may commence before the end of the war, but it cannot be delayed one single hour after the end of the war, and if the Home Rule Act is not in operation at the end of the war, then, under the statute, it automatically comes into operation at the very moment. As to the Amending Bill, if an agreement can be arrived at, and I won't abandon the hope that such a contingency may arise, for it is inconceivable that the fathers of the young men from the north and the south who are fighting side by side in the trenches, that the fathers of these young men at home in Ireland will not be able to come to an agreement upon the few outstanding difficulties, then an amending Bill may be introduced at any time before the war is ended, and before the Home Rule Act comes into operation. But if an amending Bill can be proposed, introduced, and discussed while the war is in operation, while the present Government is in office, or while the Home Rule Act is suspended, to propose an amending Bill which was a matter of controversy and not of agreement,' said Mr. Redmond, ' would not only be a violation of all the pledges given by all parties to the Coalition Government, but it would instantly destroy the whole basis of the Government; it would end the Coalition Government in a week, and it would throw the whole country into a welter of confusion and turmoil.'

The U.I.L. and the Volunteer Force.

Such a contingency as that was absolutely impossible. It followed, therefore, that unless they came to an agreement no amending Bill could be introduced until after the war. From that it followed that no amending Bill could be introduced until after the Home Rule Act had come into operation. It might be that after the war was over and with another Government in power and when Home Rule was in operation, an objectionable amending Bill might be proposed, although he hoped and prayed that they would be able to settle the few outstanding difficulties by agreement. There was the possibility, and therefore it followed from the existence of the possibility that there was an imperative necessity that Ireland should be so united, organised, and disciplined that he or whoever might be in his place when that contingency arose should be able to speak with one

voice for Ireland. He had said that the position of Irish national self-government was impregnable, but the most impregnable fortress ever seen might fall by the apathy, disunion, and dissension of the guarding garrison. He called upon the whole country to strengthen ' the organisation of the. United Irish League, and also to strengthen in every conceivable way, in efficiency as well as in numbers, the great Volunteer force which, if ever such a contingency as he had alluded to might arise, and he did not believe it would arise, would stand at the back of the civil organisation of the people and see that no successful attempt was made to filch from them the rights that they had won. Let them remember that the reorganisation of their forces did not imply, as some people had tried to suggest, any fear of the future. He had not a particle of fear of the future. Ireland never in her whole history stood in as strong a position as she stood to-day. The whole history of this war was a vindication of the principle of Home Rule. The Moral of South Africa. Mr. Redmond referred to the loyalty of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and told how these colonies had sent their sons to fight for the Empire. That Was the fruit of giving them self-govern-ment. South Africa, which a few years ago was in open armed resistance to England, would, if Home Rule had not been granted to its people, undoubtedly be severed from the Empire to-day. South Africa had achieved the greatest of all the victories that the Empire had won by the capture and annexation of German territory perhaps twenty times as large as the United Kingdom. It was not necessary to point the moral of South Africa. His friend, General Botha, had cabled to him the other day saying that the victory he had won in South Africa was the fruit of the policy of liberty and recognition of national rights in that part of the British Empire. Those words of Botha's applied with equal force to Ireland. Ireland prayed' for the success of the Empire, and was voluntarily spending thousands of her sons to fight for liberty and right. Ireland's action in this war made it absolutely inconceivable and impossible that when this war has been successfully ended any party of politicians should seek to take away by force the charter which Ireland had won by generations of long and constitutional effort. ' Although the times are anxious,' concluded Mr. Redmond, ' Ireland as a nation has no reason for despondency. She has recently added an imperishable wreath to her record as a nation. Let her gallantly continue to fulfil her duty in this war, and most assuredly she will speedily enter into the enjoyment of her national inheritance.'