IRELAND AND THE GOVERNMENT

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIII, Issue 1, 6 January 1916, Page 13

IRELAND AND THE GOVERNMENT

-■. v; : ♦\. ~ • - 4 ■ THE POSITION OF THE IRISH PARTY. ■■■ In the debate which took place after Mr.' Asquith’s v statement on the, war -in the j House of Commons on - November 2, Mr. John Redmond took the opportunity of ; stating Ireland’s policy in regard to /the Govern- ' : ment. He said he had not taken any part in a de--7 bate on the conduct of the war since its inception, but - ; . that was not because he and his colleagues had not had profound . dissatisfaction. with certain of the events . • which had taken place both in this country and abroad. ’ - It was due solely to the fact that they felt, rightly or wrongly— thought rightly—the - best service -they - ; could bring to the country in this terrible crisis was to , ; :V- . extend to the Government and the,men who formed it,, whoever they might be, their fullest possible trust and / V loyal, and as far as possible silent, support. . That attitude was maintained: by his colleagues and himself. even after the formation of! the Coalition Government. - *' During the, long and terrible , months that had passed ’ he thought Ireland had exhibited a remarkable spec- ; tacle. - Ever since. the war ,commenced party contro- . . -V; versy had disappeared in Ireland. Men who before - •i 1 -..were divided Iby the bitterest party passion had since - . ' worked together amicably and unselfishly side, by side' for the common cause. He himself the other day, . : under the presidency of the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin, . 1- : sat in amicable consultation with leaders 7 of the Ulster ?. ; Unionist Party. ; In addition to that, they had had in •'; ' Ireland ; no labor unrest and no industrial strikes. .v - <’ Their workmen, the moment the opportunity was ; offered ‘ 7 to them ’by the Minister of Munitions, went with en- ; ;• thusiasm into the service of that department, 7 and -to-... - Dublin V full time upon ; munition .work. All that was only a’ ' ;: ’ V beginning. In a few weeks’ time he believed this • work would be going on without interruption all over ; . Ireland. . Wherever trouble or friction came from, it : would mot come from - the Irish workers. ' At the .same ; time, the object of recruiting was being- pushed forward ■ steadily and satisfactorily. From - the commencement .• ■V . -of the war. to that moment the Government had been i faced by no trouble,..no danger, by no factious criticism, ; - ;• 'V j VV:. By .No Lack of Loyal Support in ? Ireland. - That had- not been due to lack of grave cause of .com- :'. plaint upon our side. It was due solely to the; deter- < mination that no responsibility or blame for disunion I in face of th© enemy should at the end of the war be laid 'to the account, of -the"lrish people. They had

;s? been in • Ireland profoundly disturbed by V manyt things which had taken place in England during the last few V . months; v 1 The spectacle of industrial unrest,'the deter- x - mined and unceasing f attack . in certain - sections of - the ~- ’ ■ press upon : the I Government, 5 upon : individual members of the Government and : in a,. special way upon - the y Prime Minister, had aroused the gravest concern and : the deepest ; indignation in Ireland; and he would like , to say: to the Prime v Minister that attacks made upon .' , him by a section of the press had found no echo whatever in the length and breadth of Ireland, and he stood to-day ‘ as "he stood before the war—-high in the confidence of the Irish people. The persistent pessimism" which had been so .long preached v in . certain quarters : with reference to the war had had no effect in discouraging the Irish people. ' The only effect it had had ■ in Ireland had been to some small extent to bring aid to that small fringe which existed there, as it did in England, of men- who would if -they could, interfere with the success of recruiting. • . r~ ' V "" ' He had listened to the speech of the Prime Minister - with : pleasure, for two reasons—-viz., although .that speech put before the country in serious ■: colors indeed the gravity of the problem with which we were faced, . at the same time as a whole it did much to counteract that pessimism which was taking the heart out of so many of their people in every part of the Empire, as well as at home, and which undoubtedly was bringing help, hope, and comfort. to the enemies of the Empire, Secondly, he : listened, with pleasure to the speech : because the Prime-Minister, made a, proposal with reference to the Cabinet. That proposal would, at any rate for the time being, silence the wreckers. He (Mr. Redmond) , was. not in favor of the idea of a Cabinet i within a Cabinet. If this committee were to be a , Cabinet within the Cabinet, it would be utterly unconstitutional. It would be scrapping ’ The Whole English Constitution, Vand would be without precedent. The position of every member of the Cabinet who was outside the committee •; would be humiliating and\ absolutely impossible. If, ' on the other hand, the committee was to be merely a . small body of men who were 'to attend to carrying out - in detail the decisions already come to byjthe Cabinet . as a whole, then he was inclined to agree with Sir " E. Carson that after all it did not mean very much— - at any rate in ' principle and' the | most that could • ' apparently be.,said for it was that instead of-. this fluctuating War Council, as it was called, meeting periodically, and: which was not always the same in its component parts, they would have sitting from day to day A small body of men whose names would be known to the country, and who would have the conduct of , every matter of detail ; But,’ went on Mr. Redmond, ‘ I must say to the House of Commons and the Prime Minister ’that, in my opinion, the whole of the present position ' is fundamentally . wrong.' I never believed in i the wisdom . of the • creation of a Coalition . Government. _ I did not hear at the time, I have .really not heard since, any reason to show that that creation X was i either 4 desirable or ~ necessary. - . The . Government at that time was united. It had the confidence of the House of Commons, It . had the open and enthusiastic . supportr of every , party and : of every section in this House; - and,* in f addition • to that, it had the advantage of a responsible and, I will add, a patriotic Opposition. A great deal of nonsense had been talked in the past few months about the desirability'of having no criticism . of ..the Government. Criticism of a war 7 Government is, I in my opinion, essential. Yes; but it must, be reasoned, measured, . patriotic criticism, and directed ;L. by a responsible Opposition.' The idea that the new . - Coalition .Government was to be a stronger .Govern- /., - ment than its - predecessor because it was: to be made ; - up by the" selection of men to represent various sections vt and various parties and not of,; -• ;■ > Men Chosen for their - Personal ; Efficiency- and Fitness, . - seemed to me then, and - seems to me now, /an absurd h idea. ? Is T< there any man -.who ; will say the present - Government * is any stronger > than i the Government it ’

L}':; has succeeded ? v ' Will • • anyone • say .that . the kind ,of ~ * criticism we have had in* the main has' afforded / the ./ ; ; : ; Government that considered, restrained, and responsible } < - : criticism which would have been heard if .there had been ;; .■/•* a responsible Opposition? v I had 'the honor of being . offered ,a < seat in the Coalition Cabinet by - the Prime. I:Minister,';and,amongst other reasons which I had for ;i declining, that offer, probably the most 'powerful of ' Jfcall was this; -''I : ; felt convinced then, . and I am more convinced than ever by what has happened since, that . -"...' my power. of a doing, good ■* work in assistance in this ■ .;; - : 4; matter and : of helping the country would have been ; •; lessened /and not increased if I had accepted. I urged - 7 upon the' Prime Minister that it was unwise for him " -4 to bring into his;Coalition" Government any Irish party. }/:/ if- He did hot . take ,my - advice'. . I am of that opinion % still." Ido not know what his opinion is. Proceeding, ;; v ; A:Mr. Redmond said he did not believe that the proposal . / of this' small committee would remedy the difficulties ~ and evils of the situation. A homogeneous Governor ment and a responsible Opposition was the only satis->S-T factory v solution . But though these were his views and: those of his colleagues, he could inform the Prime Minister that they would not in the least: affect their » ' attitude towards the" Government, and any Government ./' :; ;J of which the Prime Minister was the head would in

the conduct of the war

Receive Their Constant and Loyal Support.

./•■•>^ He did not think it would be prudent or wise to follow J the right hon. gentleman who had just spoken into the .'j reasons for his resignation from the Cabinet. Sir E. , fr ;- Carson commenced by saying he did not see the value - v ; of r discussing past events and mistakes, but he had •-V dealt very fully with some ,of them'.- With his - (the </ speaker’s) imperfect knowledge of what happened in -3 the Cabinet, he thought it would be wrong to attempt 'to trace the blame for any of the mistakes that , had / undoubtedly been made, both in our warlike operations '1- and our diplomacy. The time would come when these things S would . have to be discussed and a strict

account taken, but we wanted some guarantee

that past mistakes would not be repeated. Intense feeling existed throughout Ireland with regard to Serbia, as it had done in regard to Belgium. Like th,e Prime Minister, he was against compulsion, and until the country was practically unanimous in favor of it he believed resort to compulsion would be a folly and a crime. He was convinced tjiat the necessity . for compulsion would jiever arise. The voluntary system >had never had fair playcertainly it had not in Ireland. -- '

Recruiting in Ireland. *

- In speaking of the efforts he and his colleagues / had made throughout Ireland in support of recruiting, /rC the hon. member complained of the lack of support they received from the officials- of the. War Office. The 1 ■.'l attitude “taken-up by the War Office had, he said, at times reduced him almost -to a condition of despair. “ But, in spite of being hampered and thwarted, they : , had raised in Ireland a body of men of whom Lord Kitchener had spoken as being magnificent. Figures - quoted by the General Officer Commanding in Ireland j; showed that in the last" few mouths in Ireland: they had S ; raised - three Irish divisions, or an entire army cofpfe; : ■ In addition, they had sent to the regiments of the old army many thousands of men. Three' months - ago i v-.--. General Friend commanding in Ireland, said „ 23,000 and - many, thousands had .gone since. In addition, about 30,000 reservists /were called up, and, adding the }••/ ' old soldiers in the army when the war commenced,..they } found there were this moment little short of 150,000 % v menjvith ; the colors from Ireland. Then there were || y about}! 15,000 men of the Irish race in .Great . Britain ■7 who had" joined their regiments; and, taking the Irish|%^&'men'| serving ( with the Australian, ; New Zealand, ' and Canadian forces, they had 300,000 of 400,000 men in the ' army, not /to’; speak of the many who belonged to the%lyish race. jc That was \a record of which they had reason to be proud. He was glad to say recruiting in ■ ~ ■ •

•a Ireland had now been put on a business basis, and he '■ was certain the voluntary system would triumph in tne

campaign Lord Derby had inaugurated.