The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1914-05-28
PLAY NOT ENDED,
UN|0N|sT ASSERTS
LAW DECLARES FINAL ACT OF
HOME RULE FIGHT Is YET
TO FOLLOW.
QUIET REIGNs IN ULSTER
No Marked Outbreaks of Any Sort
Follow Passage of Bill-Premier
Asquith Very Hope
ft,I

London, May 27-With the passage
of the Irish home rule bill in the house
of commons by a majority of II, the
end of the hard-fought struggle came
quite suddenly.
Unionists Demand information.
The Unionists refused to debate the
bill without further information as to
the governments intentions in regard
to the proposed amending measure.
Premier Asquith lifted a corner Of
the veil but though Andrew Bonal
Law, leader of the opposition, admit
ted that the premier's words were
conciliatory, he FASTENED to add that
Mr.. AsQuith had not told them any
thing. To discuss the third reading
under the circumstances would, he
said, be futile and ridiculous. He add
ed:
LET the curtain ring down on this
contemplate farce. 1t is only the end
Of an act and not of the play. The
government can carry the bill through
parliament, but the concluding act of
the drama will be in the country
where an appeal to the people will not
end In farce"
Mr.. Law then remarked that when
the government was unable to obtain
seat in parliament for member of
the cabinet, meaning Mr.. Masterman,
chancellor of Lancaster, an appeal to
the country evidently was not far off.
Asquith Defends Government.
In brief speech Premier Asquith
defended the government against the
charge of ignoring the rights of the
minority and explained that he was
introducing an amending bill, not be-
cause he thought that the Irish home
rule measure was bad or imperfect,
but because he was anxious for peace.
The bill was subsequently sent up to
the house Of lords. 1t was accompan-
led by a group of jubilant Nationalist
who escorted the official bearer of the
bill and sang God Save Ireland"
The house of lords afterward for.
mally read the bill a first time. The
real fight on the measure in that
chamber will begin in the middle of
June after the Whitsuntide holiday.
Premier Is Hopeful.
Premier Asquith announced that the
amending bill would give effect to any
agreement which the government was
still hopeful might be reached. He
said that if, at the time of the intro
duction of the Irish home rule bill in
the house of lords, no such agreement
had been reached, the amended bill
would embody the substance of the
proposals outlined by him on March g.,
In the hope that, after discussion, an
agreement might be secured.
On March 9 Premier Asquith told
the house of commons that, before the
bill became operative, a poll would be
taken of the parliamentary electors of
each county from Ulster to decide
whether those counties should be ex-
Guided from the provisions of the Irish
home rule bill for period of six years
from the first meeting of the new Irish
parliament. If the majority of the vot-
ers were in favor Of the scheme that
country would automatically be ex-
cluded for the prescribed period.
Reports Of "Gun-Running."
Reports of "gun-running" in the
north continued and it is said that
King Georges embargo against the
importation of arms into Ireland is be-
Ing evaded in a wholesale manner.
Three hundred constables, equipped
with rifles and revolvers, were sent
from Dublin to Belfast and other
points in Ulster, where trouble was
believed likely because of the home
rule agitation No demonstrations of
any sort, however, occurred in any of
these districts.
Vote Is 351 to 274.
The vote was 351 for and 274 against
home rule. The division was strictly a
political one and the vote was practi-
cally the same as on the last enact
ment of the measure with the excep-
ton of the few votes gained by the
unionists in the recent by-elections.