The Irish standard., 1914-04-25
>'tude Of the Irish party with
: He did not leave un.

Os u 'tuQe OF the 1rlsn party with
reg&1t He did not leave un-
touchs< Jingle point which is ger
name to the issue as it stands. and
he left not particle Of doubt in the
minds of any Of his audience as to
what the considered judgment of the
Irish party was both on principles and
on details. Again, he said, he wanted
peace. and was willing to pay big
price for it. But. in spite Of all the
sacrifices, the Irish party had made
for peace, the Carsonites had not ad-
vanced one inch. In fact, they had
thrown back with contempt the offer
of temporary exclusion Of ulster"
by county plebiscite. That position
might, therefore, be regarded, so far
as that debate was concerned, as
dead. But now a certain section of
Liberals and some Tories favour what
they call a federal settlement. The
Home Rule movement, he explained,
was Federal movement. O'Connell,
Butt, and Parnell were Federalists.
But If by Federalism was meant that
Ireland's claim was to wait or to be
watered down to suit the needs Of
Great Britain, that was a Federalism
which ireland could not and would
not accept. Ireland's claim to Home
Rule came first in priority, and Home
Rule for Ireland was the first step
ping stone to Federalism. Under any
Federal scheme. Ireland must be a
unit. Ireland would never submit to
the permanent exclusion of Ulster, or
any part Of it. If Sir Edward Carson
and his friends came to the National
lists and asked them to bury the
hatchet and to cooperate for the good
of Ireland, there was no length to
which the Nationalists would go to
bring about a real and permanent
union of all Irishmen.
A Plea For Peace.
Here is the full text of Redmond's
noble plea for peace:
Anything which would mean bury
ing the hatchet, anything which would
mean the consent of these Ulstermen
to shake hands frankly with their fel.
low-countrymen across the hateful
memories of the past, would be vel
coined with universal joy in Ireland,
and would be gladly purchased by
very large sacrifices indeed. If the
right hon. and learned gentleman
would say to me, We both are Irish
men; we both love our country; we
both hate-and am sure this is alb
solutely true of both of us-all the
old sectarian animosities, all the old
wrongs, all the old memories which
have kept Irishmen apart; let us come
together and see what we can do for
the welfare of our common country,
SO that we can hand down to those
who come after us an Ireland more
free, more peaceful, more tolerant,
an Ireland less cursed by racial and
religious differences. If an appeal
like that were made to us, say with.
out the smallest hesitation that there
, are no lengths that Nationalist Ire.
land would not be willing to get to as.
suage the fears, allay the anxieties
and remove the prejudices of their
: Ulster fellow countrymen. But, alas!
that is not the position. Even the
permanent exclusion of Ulster is moi
put forward as the price of reconcilia
ton; it is simply put forward as the
one and sole condition upon which
they will give up their avowed inten
tion of levying war upon their fellow
countrymen."
"What Remains"
After proving out of their own
mouths that Federalism was scoffed
at by the Tories, even whilst he spoke
Mr.. Redmond went on:
What remains? The government
offer has been spurned; our sacrifice
in acquiescing in 1t has been useless
No advance whatever has been made
by the representatives of Ulster
; They claim permanent and total ex.
clusion. We have gone halfway;
! they have not advanced one inch
Under these circumstances all that
remains for the House of Commons is
to proceed with the bill as it stands
prolonged cheers.) But even yet
do not despair Of a settlement. The
eleventh hour has struck, but the
eleventh hour has not passed, and !
certainly will do and say nothing
Opposition laughter) to preclude the
possibility Of a fair and honourable