THE CLOSED DOOR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1924, 5 December 1913, Page 7

THE CLOSED DOOR.

TO ULSTER SETTLEMENT.

"UNDER HEEL OF SECRET

SOCIETIES."

SPEECHES BY RIVAL LEADERS. By Telecraph—Press Association—Oopyrlcht London, December .'). Lord Ilaldane, in his spcerh at Birmingham, said that the Homo Rule Bill was not inspired. Much remained to bo .discussed. While preserving the principle- of a Parliament and executivo for Ireland, tho Opposition, he said, should come to tho negotiations-prepar-ed to make concessions. Tho righteourso would be that those most responsible, who mav only be one on each side, should talk with that unrestrained freedom which men can when talking to each other privately as man to man, without tho restraints and temptations arising in debates and within earshot of hot partisans. Tho Right Hon Herbert Samuel and Sir John Simon elsewhere also denied that Mr. Asquith intended to close the i door to an amicablo settlement. IRISH SECRET SOCIETIES, | SUGGESTED POWER BEHIND THE SCENES. (Rec. December 4, 0.50 p.m.) London, December 4, Lord Lansdownc, speaking nt the Scottish Constitutional Club, said that tho Unionists were urging the Government with all their might and mam to do its duty in this crisis and make sure of not governing a. democracy against its will. His Lordship derided Mr. LloydGeorgo's contention that Unionists were using Ulster to obscure the land problems. Ulster was, being sold, driven out of the Union, and put under tho heel of the secret societies, which virtually regulated Irish afl'a'rs, to the exclusion of Ulster. It woaid be a most unsatisfactory settlement, hut the Prime Minister's overtures at Ladybank indicated that there would bo changes in tho Bui, necessitated by Ulster's exclusion, and that there also might be some extension of tho principle of devolution, but his Leeds speech had chilled tho Unionists to tho marrow. "Lord Haldauc, who is ono of the iinest artists nf oil, has endeavoured," said tho speaker, "to calm tho troubled waters, but the situation remains full of danger. We must be prepared for the worst." the Tjmomsis of Ireland, he added, had no reason to desist from their preparations, and llio Unionists of England would continue to givo them all tho encouragement . possible.

The Liberal Government s attitude, towards the opposition which has been offered to tho Home Rule Bill, n ! suciuctiy be expressed by statiiur the four main heads of the rnme Minister s argument, in his speech at Ladybank on October 25 last, namely:— (1) There is a complete constitutional ca<--e for proceeding in the next s;s.«ion of Parliament with the Irish Government Bill by applyiug to it the. operation o, tho Parliament Act. ' (2) If a Statute deliberately enacted by Parliament were to .be met by organised and armed resistance, it would clearly be, not only tho right, but the duty, of the Executive to assert the authority oi the law by every appropriate and adequate measure.

(3) Tho proposals which have boon put forward in perfect good faith, and 1 doubt not, with perfect good will, for soniethiiiff in tho nature of a formal conference between party leaders do not appear to me to be practically helpful. if, however, there is a general disposition in all quarters, by an interchange of views avid suggestions," free, frank, and without prejudice, to contribute to a common stock, 1 invite the interchange. (1) There is no scheme for the adjustment of the position of the minority in Ireland, subject to certain simple and governing considerations, which I am not prepared to consider with a perfect!}- open mind.

These governing considerations arc:— 61) Nothing is to be don? that will interfere with the .setting Hp of *>■ subordinate Irish Legislature with an Executive responsible to it. ■(b) Nothing is to be done which will erect a permanent or an insuperable, bur in the way of Irish unity, (c) While the importance of the extension of the principle of Devolution in appropriate forms to other parts of the United Kingdom is fully recognised, the claim of Ireland is prior in point of urgency, and must bo dealt with first.