THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2907, 20 October 1916, Page 5

THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND

ADVERSE MOTION BY NATIONALIST LEADER SITUATION PULL OP MENACE AND DANGER (Kcuter's and Australian-Kcv ZeaJand Cable Association Telegrams Combined.) (llec, October 19, 6.10 p.m.) London, October 18. In the House of Commons, Mr. John Redmond moved: /

"That the present system of goveminent of Ireland is inconsistent ; with the principle for which the Al-' lies are fighting, and was mainly v responsible for the rebellion, the said object of which was to draw, attention to the unsatisfactory sit-i nation in Ireland, which is full of' menace to the aspirations of Irer! land, the good understanding be- ' tween Britain and Ireland, and also to tho biggest interests of the ■ Empire."

_ Mr. Redmond, speaking to the mcv tion,_said that undeniably the situa/tion in Ireland was full of'menace andbanger. Prom the day that' tho.Coalition Government was formed recruiting in Ireland declined rapidly. Sir Edward Carson's inclusion in tho Cabinet persuaded thousands of Irishmen, that they would be betrayed. At tlio outbreak of the war Ireland was oil the side of the Allies. There was genuine enthusiasm for the Allies' cause'* With a little sympathy on the Government's part it would have been possible to create practically a united country. Instead, all the Nationalists' efforts were thwarted, ignored; snub-' bed. The final blow was the creation of the Coalition Government. The revolutionary Sinn Fein army rapidly increased, and distrust and suspicion spread throughout the country. If the rising in Ireland had been dealt'with in the samo manner that General Botha; had dealt with tho rising in South. Africa, the whole" situation would have ibeen saved. Instead, the Government behaved with panicky violence. Ireland should hape been trusted and given her freedom. It was even possible to trust Ireland bow. He asked if the Government seriously proposed to maintain the present system of perpetual martial 'law. He urged the withdrawal of martial law, the release of prisoners, and the putting ,of lie Home Rule Act into operation: Mr. Eedinond went on to deal witK the recruiting problem. Conscription in Ireland, he said, would be an aggravation of the' situation, not a remedy. •Throughout, the efforts of tho Nationalists had been thwarted and ignored, and their suggestions derided. He had asked for the creation of an Irish Army Corps, but everything calculated to arouse national pride and enthusiasm m connection with the war had been rigorously suppressed. Nothing did more harm than tho suppression of all official mention of the Dublin and Munster Fusiliers at the landing on. Gallipoli. When the Sixteenth Division went to the front there was not a. Roman Catholic officer to a battalion, except two or three subalterns. , Mr. Eedmond further complained that recovered wounded Irishmen had heen redrafted into English battalions. It was a mockery to complain that tip Irish Division was not kept up to strength. The gallantry of the Irish troops had won for Ireland a new place in the councils of the Empire. It was to the interest of the Empire to enable' Ireland to maintain thai place by removing once-and for all this fog of bad taitn and bad management. While the present Government existed the irritated condition of national feeling in Ireland would remain. Ireland saw England fighting for the rights of a small nation, yet maintaining a Unionist Goverment in Ireland against the will of the people, by means of martial law.

. Mr. Redmond concluded by demanding a new Commander-in-Chief in Ireland, that tlie Defence of the ttoal™ Act be administered by machinery similar to that operating in England, that convicted rebels be treated as political prisoners, and. above all, that the Gov- i ernment take its courage in both hands and put the Home Rule -Act into operation.

THE RECRUITING IN IRELAND NATIONALISTS ABSTAINING FROM . ENCOURAGEMENT." London, October 18. .■ _ Tho "Times" correspondent at Dublin states that the Nationalists are clearly and deliberately abstaining from encouraging 'recruiting. The "Freoman's Journal," which Mr. John Redmond supposedly controls, has not printed Mr. Redmond's appeal for Irish divisions," "which illustrates the unprece3ented confusion of affairs in Ireland.