The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-04-06

situation that has arisen better by
leaving the rules as they are and by
that no one was more surprised than
myself when opened my newspaper
on Wednesday morning. 1 say it was
showing more consideration to the pri-
vate members, and, therefore, on the
ground of want of necessity 1 say the
case for this resolution has broken
down. But, sir, apart from that, the
resolution itself is a most cXtravagant
one. l remember very we'll when, in
1880, Sir Stafford Northcote, who was
chancellor of the eXchequer i'll the Con-
sentative government and leader of the
House, was proposing the originally
very modest rule of dealing with the
suspension of private members for 4
week or some small period, he recog-
nized the danger of leaving it in the
power of any person, no matter how
highly placed, by naming number Of
men to suspend them from their func-
tions as members of parliament. l
proposal was made to extend the or
der and make it more oppressive, how
Lord Randolph Churchill denounced
the proposal to suspend members for
one month as a last resort His voice
rang through the House as he describ-
ed the proposal as ferocious and saw
age Qrish cheers). And now it is pro-
posed to leave in the hands of the
chairman Of committees or the speaker
for that is what it comes tO-the
duty or power of naming any number
of men for disorderly conduct, and
then following on that comes their
suspension ministerial Interruptions
and cries of mo-. The interruption
is puerile. AS said, the speaker Or
chairman of committees names the
men, and the House then divides for
or against suspension. Sir. we had an
experience this afternoon Of how do
Gle the House is in accepting the mo-
ton to expel members who are named,
even though these men are not on the
premises at all cloud Irish cheers l.
sir, take the constitutional ground that
you have no right to suspend the &C.
ton of a member of parliament for
the whole of the session (cheers) 1t is
a penalty in many cases not inflicted
upon him. I know Il great many men,
bers of this House who do not regard
their attendance here as any great
pleasure or privilege (cheers). l know
many members whose attendance in
this House means for them practical
ruin in their profession, and who come
here solely from Il sense Of public
duty. and who would not suffer in the
slightest degree il you suspended
them for the remainder of the session
Qlear. hear. But in taking that course
you innirt penalty on the constituency
for an offence Which it is not in any
way Drivy to (hcnr. hear. If you an
swer ME on this point by saying.
"Well, the constituencies should not
elect men capable of such conduct"
then / say. have tire courage of your
convictions and expel these men Gris17
cheers. The noble lord. the member
for Greenwich. is the only man have
met who is perfectly frank and honest
III his convictions on this point. and he
has the courage of his convictions
Qaughter), for he is going to move a
proposal to the effect that instead of
being suspended indefinitely we should
be imprisoned indefinitely hcncwcd
laughtcr). | congratulate the noble
lord on being thorough in this matter,
though I confess am somewhat sur
prised that he did not put in his
amendment not imprisonment" but
"the block" Grish cheers and laugh
teri. Sir. from purely Irish point of
view, | desire to say that the Irish
members on this side Of the House TO
gard your rules with Indifference and
contempt cloud and prolonged Irish
cheers: with Indifference because no
penalties which you can devise will de-
ter us from doing what We believe is
our duty. and with contempt because
the penalties you may niict in this
way we do not consider rcproarh but
an honor Grish chccrs) I say if YOU
so on the lines on which you have en-
barkcd in this matter the logical re-
suit, and the only result, will be the
Acknowledgement of Ireland (hear,
hear) | am not sure that that would
not he far better--I am sure it would
be a far honcstcr-systcm than the
present ono. for as long as you deprive
Ireland Of the substance of constitu-
tional government and preserve the
empty form by bringing us here to this
parliament, where we are always in Il
permanent minority rs compared with
the representatives of another country
and nation. say as long rs this is tho
case you will have in your midst a
foreign element Qrish chccrs) Sir,
there is something deeper in this mat
ter than Il mere ebullitlon of temper
or the mere question of new rules.
There is something deeper than that
something which goes right down to
the bedrock of this Irish question. The
Irish members are a foreign element
in this House Irish checrs). and like
4 foreign substance in the human hOdv