Evening star., 1921-11-01

By the Associated Press.
LONDON, November 1.-The govern
ment obtained its expected mandate
from the house Of commons last night
to proceed with The Irish negotiations.
The unionist motion, censuring the gov
ernment for initiating the Irish nego-
tiations, was voted down. 439 to 43.
The premier also achieved another Of
his oratorical victories before an ex-
pectant audience. So far as the move
ment OF protest was designed to draw
information as to the proceedings OF
the conference It failed; the premier |
gave no information as to what, has
! been decided or is being discussed re-
garding Mr. De Valera's claim to In
dependence and the rumored attempts |
to arrange concessions from Ulster for !
a united Ireland. These remain In the
realm Of speculation.
One piece of Information the premier
did give. 1t was that unless something
happened within a few days, presum-
settled status Of Irelands two govern
ments. steps would be taken to give
the Ulster parliament the powers neces-
sary to make 1t a real government.
!! Anxious to Obtain Peace.
| Mr.. Lloyd George declared that the
time to question the negotiations was
when he first proposed them to the
! sim f6ln Dy PUBIC correspondence
last July Much Of his speech was
devoted to holding before the COM
l mons the prospect Of renewal OF
guerrilla warfare II the conference
broke down.
He declared the first thing the gov
ernment would have to do would be
to ask the house to strengthen the
crown forces, but pointed out the cost
| of renewed warfare and the reluc-
tance of the country to incur greater
taxation and ask more young men to
risk their lives He asserted the gov
ernment's resolve to refuse conces-
sions which would weaken the en-
pire, but to explore all paths to an
honorable peace, and emphasized the
fact that any agreement must be rati-
fled by parliament.
The motion, as presented in parlia-
ment was divided into two sections,
the first. an expression of grave ap-
prehension that the government had
entered into negotiations with men
who had repudiated the authority OF
the crown and, second. that the sane
ton of parliament ought to have been
obtained for the actual proposals
made.
Cries of NyNhy NOt4" Shouted.
mo compact can come into effect
without the authority of parliament"
said Mr.. Lloyd George. Every detail
will be submitted to parliament. The
agreement, IL there be an agreement.
will have to be in the form of an act
Of parliament. Is it suggested that
the government ought to come to the
house and say: We want your sane
ton for this or that proposal?' (Cries
of why Not?")
NO negotiations could possibly be
conducted like that. There must be
basic principles, but these have been
declared to the House repeatedly
(Cries Of What are they"o
They have been declared time after
declared to parliament repeatedly
that the government is prepared to
meet any representative of the Irish
people who could deliver the goods.
1 am prepared to meet any, one who
can make a good bargain on behalf or
the population of Ireland"
The time to challenge the confer
ence, said the prime minister, was
when his letter was written in July
in response to the kings gracious
tion had been put down. with de-
tmand from forty or fifty members Tor
discussion, he would have wasted no
time in giving them an opportunity.
II am now invited" he went on, ito
stare what the opinions of the gov
ernment are, in the middle of con-
ference, on the subjects discussed
| there. There are two kinds OF con.
sferSnCeS, the open conference 81
which no business is ever transacted.
though it encourages the faithful. and
the conference of closed doors. which
is the only conference at which you
can do business. Then there is the
! conference of partial disclosure.
which has all the vices and none or
the virtues of the other two, and is
the way to disaster.
| without caring one iota myself, the
house of commons must either trust
its negotiators. Or replace them. cloud
cheers) want to know, my coll
leagues. 1 want to know whether you
want us to try to make peace. II you
do not, there will be one glad man
who will go to his sovereign and say:
"I hand in my portfolio (Cheers.)
"If we discuss the matter in this
Ihouse there will be no conference.
Negotiations are proceeding. l
would be happy if I could be in
position to announce that the great
parent races which founded this em-
pire had decided to put an end to this
feud of centuries and substitute COM
jradeship But I cannot conceal the
possibility that I may have to make
the grim announcement that it is inn
possible to settle without danger or
dishonor.
''If that terrible hour comes. and
some one standing at this table has to
invite this house and the country to
/! make greater sacrifices. then Britain's