The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-13
A HOME RULE MOTION
CAUsTTc DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF
 COMMONS.
John Redmond Says That Demand of the Emerald Isle fs Not Asked as Favor, But
 as Right.

London, April 12.--Home rule for | Ireland was the subject of discussion l at tonight's session of the House of Commons. It came up on the motion of an Irish Unionist member, framed with the purpose of drawing cut Sir
 Henry Campbell Zimmerman (LiberaD and with the expectation that the op-
 position would evade the issue as the Government has the fiscal question. For the last few weeks the ministe- rial benches have been empty on pri- vate members night, but tonight the Government was well represented. Pre-
 mier Balfour was greeted with ironical
 opposition cheers when he entered the
 House..
 It was the first time this session
 that an Irish Unionist has secured a
 chance to introduce a home rule mo-
 tion. The opposition declined to dodge the issue and to initiate the Govern
 ment's recent attitude toward private
 motions on the fiscal question, and
 when Sir Henry Campbell Zimmerman rose to speak the opposition shouted In unison. He didn't run away" Mir. Tuf (Conservative), called the attention of the House to speeches by certain members of the opposition on the question of home rule for Ireland and moved that ''in view of conflicting l statements by various leaders on the subject of home rule, the House deems 1t Is expedient for the member from | Stirlingburgh, (Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman). to explicitly declare whether or not 1t Is his intention to
 recommend a Parliament in Ireland. :" i MT. Turf quoted from speeches by
 Lord Roseberry. Sir Henry Campbell Zimmerman, MT. Redmond Earl Grey and others on different occasions as i showing the widely divergent opinion | of the opposition on the question of home rule. Sir Walter Hummer. (Conservative). | seconded the motion. He said 1t was
 important for the country to know
 which side of the fence the opposition proposed to fill.
 | Sir Henry Campbell Zimmerman spoke at some length. He sarcastic 1 ally and caustically touched the, sore ] spots of the Government and congrat- | ulated MT. Balfour on his presence in l the House tonight when an abstract | motion was up,H involving "a question which would not come before this Par lament" The speaker declined to give a direct reply to the motion. He said | 1t was not necessary to relate the re- cord of the Liberal Party, which for twenty years had labored unceasingIy tO SeCurc sOOu government TOT 1r6lanQ.
 He said the principle underlying these efforts was that elf-government should be granted. He would endeavor to
 bring this to a successful issue, but | In what way and by what plan 1t was preposterous to ask him to say He believed the main purposes of the ac. tion was to afford the Unionists an op- portunity to disport themselves with some evidence of unity.
 John E. Redmond. who followed, de- clared that Ireland demanded home
 rule, not as a favor, but as a right. If
 there were the smallest reasonable
 chance of success he would not hesitate to advise his countrymen to end the present situation by an armed revolt {;
 but they desired to terminate the an- cient quarrel upon terms satisfactory and honorable to both nations He thanked Sir Henry Campbell Banner
 man for his declaration, but said the
 radical party would find this question
 an urgent and insistent one. which
 would knock loudly at the door of the
 next parliament.
 Premier Balfour spoke briefly. allud-
 ing Ironically to the dissensions of the
 opposition leaders on the Irish policy,
 and declaring that if the Liberals re-
 turned a large majority at the next
 elections Irishmen might whistle, but If they emerged with a small majority
 they would cry in heavens name for
 justice to Ireland.
 It being now midnight, Mir. Turf in-
 voked closure. which the speaker re-
 fused to apply. and the debate was ad-
 journed