GOVERNMENT'S INTENTION DECLARED.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1890, 27 October 1913, Page 7

GOVERNMENT'S INTENTION DECLARED.

ULTIMATUM TO UNIONIST

EESISTERS.

By Teleeraph—Prow Association-Oopyrlclit (Ilec. Octobcr 27, 0.20 a.m.) London, October 26. Mr. Asquith (tho Primo Minister), in a speech at Ladybank, dealt entirely with the Irish situation. The Homo llulo Bill, he declared, had been supported. from first to last by undiminished majorities, and so far from .being carried by. tho Irish vote, it had recoived tho support of a- substantial majority of the British members of Parliament. Mr. Redmond and he had co-operated iii this matter, and neither party was ashamed of co-operation, wliicli tho whole of the Libera! party, and nearly four-fifths of tho Irish people approved, Thero was abundant evidence, he continued, that they had practically the united support of all the Sfllf-gavcrnint? Dominions. (Cheers.) Thero was, therefore, a complete constitutional caso for the application of the Parliament Act, which next session would make tho Homo Uulo Bill operative. jTkey would agree that tho action of statesmen in a matter which had reached tliiß Btago ought not to bo affected or deflected by the menace of fareiblo resistance. Doctrines had been preached in Ulster during tho last two years which,' he regretted, people in responsible quarters had countenanced. These doctrines were the negation of tho first principles of Parliamentary and democratic Governments. (Cheers.) "If," ho asked, "the minority is entitled to resist by force, what possible answer could be niado to tho mass of the Irish people if they preferred a similar claim in the event of being frustrated in their perfectly constitutional demand, a demand in which they were supported by a largo majority of tho British members of Parliament? .No," ho added, "wo shall not be intimidated by tho threat of fcree."

Ho hoped and believed that tho Homo Rule Bill would bo brought into opera tion without recourse to the armed forces of tlio Crown, but if a deliberately enacted statute was met by organised and armed resistance, it whs clearly the duty of the executive to assert tho authority of tho law by appropriate awl adequate measures. Mr. Asquith said that two recent proceedings in Ulster,_ so far from impressing the imagination or attracting the sympathies of tho averago citizen, had precisely the opposite effect. However much one's taste, or even one's common sonso was tempted to take offence at these extravagant manifestations, it was tlioir duty to. deal respectfully with deep-seated and genuine sentiment. . .... He was prepared to consider with an open mind any adjustments in Ulster's position, subject to certain simple governing considerations. These wore, firstly, that, nothing should be done to inter'foro with the establishment of a subordinate legislature in Dublin—thatwas tlio root principle from which .no could not depart; secondly, nothing should be done to erect a_ permanent and insuperable baT;.to Irish' unity; thirdly, while the iriiportance and- oxtension of tho princ-iplo of devolution in appropriate forms .jn. other parts ot the Kingdom is recognised, Ireland must first be dealt witli. He felt sancuino that a settlement was not beyond tho resources of statesmanship, but one thing was certain—tho Government was not going to be false to tlio trust tho majority of tlio Irish people had reposed in them.