The Irish standard., 1914-08-15
Home Rule Situation

SlIuc upon ISSUES apparently So Cd
pable of adjustment as those you are
now asked to consider, if handled in
spirit of generous compromise"
can Amazing Speech"
The Liberal Press referred to the
Kings speech as "an amazing
speech" and certainly no Kings
speech for generations has caused a
a greater sensation. On Tuesday, a
meeting of ITO Liberal Members at
the House of Commons protested
against the suppression of the House
of Commons by the Crown, and
against any dissolution of Parliament
until the Home Rule Bill, the Welsh
Disestablishment Bill, and the Plural
Voting Bill has been placed on the
Statute Book, and there was every
indication that Home Rulers through
out the country regarded the Kings
action as mischievous, partisan, ILL
advised, and menace to popular lib
erty. But when they read in the
Kings speech the words-"today the
cry of civil war is on the lips of the
most responsible and sober-minded Of
my people," they were amazed and
indignant, and one loud and fierce cry
of angry protest arose from the press
and platform against the Kings use
of the catch-cry about civil war which
has been the cant of Tory orators
since the Home Rule Bill was intro
duced. 1t was bad enough that the
leaders of the political Orange rebels
of Ulster had been summoned to the
Kings Palace. But it was worse that
Carson's irresponsible boys" who
had hunted and pursued innocent
Catholic and Protestant workers in
Belfast in July, 1912, who are, accord
ing to high Carsonite authority,
armed and ready for "a war of ex-
termination" of Catholics in Ulster;
and who compose the Orange mob
which Mr.. T. w. Russell, M. p, has
spoken of as "the most savage mob
in Europe" should be spoken of by
the King as "the most responsible and
sober-minded of my people" 1t was
in vailr that Mr.. Asquith assumed full
responsibility for the words. Liberal
and Labor sentiment had grown too
strong on the matter to be changed
by any chivalrous acceptance of re-
sponsibility by the Premier. A step
had been taken by the King which
raised issues of the very gravcst char
acter.
The Conference Fails.
When the Premier announced on
Friday that the conference had failed,
nobody was surprised. The Tory
Press had put forward the demand,
not only for the exclusion of six
counties of Ulster, but of parts of
Monaghan and Donegal as we'll. The
Irish Party's position had been made
clear again and again. The official
report of the conference was as fol-
lows:
"The conference held four meetings
on the 2lst, END, 23rd, and oath of
July, respectively.
"The possibility of defining an area
to be excluded from the operation of
the Government of Ireland Bill was
considered.
"The conference being unable to
agree, either in principle or in detail,
upon such an area, brought its meet
ings to conclusion.
(SigneD JAMES w. LOWTHER.
24th of July, 1914"
Unionist Misrepresentation.
From day to day the most absurd
reports appeared in the Unionist pa
pcrs as to what was going on at the
conference, and the Irish Party's rep
resentatives were represented as max
/ ing and agreeing to proposals of the
most extraordinary and impossible
character. There was not one word
of truth in any of the reports. They
were clumsy connections, for the
most part, and deliberate lies for the
remainder. OF one thing the Irisl,
people may rest assured. Whatever
record leaps to light, they never shall
be shamed" by anything John Red
mond or John Dillon said or did at
the abortive Buckingham Palace Con-
ference in July, 1914.
Ireland and the Conference.
The Irish people regarded the con-
ference with comparative indifference.
They had absolute confidence in Mr..
Redmond and Mr.. Dillon, and they
knew Ireland's interests were safe in
their hands. In Ulster, meetings OF
Nationalist were held in Fermanagh
and Tyrone, and resolutions passed
declaring that they would resist to
the death any attempt to separate
them from the rest of Ireland unde,
Home Rule. The Unionist Press
both in Ireland and in London, die
its best to work up a scare as te
what "Ulster" was going to do, bu'
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