The Dominion. FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1917. IRELAND AND THE OVERSEAS DOMINIONS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3023, 9 March 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1917. IRELAND AND THE OVERSEAS DOMINIONS

The suggestion put forward by .Mr. Asquith that a satisfactory adjustment of the Irish Home ilule question might be arrived at by submitting the matter to some form of tribunal composed of colonial statesmen is not a new one. The ex-Prime Minister of Britain doosj not propose that the finding or re- ] commendations of the colonial statesmen shall be binding oil the Imperial Parliament, but he no doubt believes that suck a finding or recommendation would be regarded as disinterested and impartial, and would weight with all concerned. w i.th this most troublesome, question. It is delicate gjidund tor overseas representative to tread on ( but as all other Vneans have failed up to the present tp bring about a settlement there is no-very strong reason for objecting to the proposal. There are very few people nowadays opposed to some form of Homo Rule being granted .to Ireland; tho difficulties arise when _ the limitations and conditions begin to be discussed. One of the most interesting and perhaps one of the most encouraging episodes associated in recent times with the Irish question aroso out of a speech in the House of Commons in December last by Major W. Redmond", brother of tho leader of the Irish Nationalist Party. Major. Redmond, who has been serving with the British forces in Prance for something like two years, was on a flying visit to London, and he seized the opportunity to speak from his place in Parliament on his experiences with Nationalists and Ulstermen in tho fighting lines. The great difficulty in the past!, he said, had arisen in the impossibility, as it seemed, of reconciling on ths • question of a new and better Irish. Government the views held by poople in tho north and south. He had been for many_ years in long and bitter opposition to members from the north, but he' had come to the conclusion that an understanding was quito possible. In support of this view he.quoted'his experiences in the fighting lines:

Iho officers and men of tho regiments from Ulster and other provinces of Ireland, ho said, had been in very close' contaot recontly, and it was a remarkable thing that there had been nothing but tho very best feeling between them. (Hear, hoar.) In face of the common enemy they recognised that thev were brother Irishmen. (Hear, hear.) Ho had been in the trenohes of the North of Ireland men, and had had every opportunity of judging ' the feeling of the men. If it were possiblo for men who held most divergent viows on politics and religion to stand shoulder to shoulder in face-of the common enemy in tho trenches, it must bo possible; and it should bo possiblo, for men holding similar political and religious views at home to como to an arrangement which would malco it possible for Ireland in the future to bo governed in a satisfactory manner and render tho recurronco of such unfortunate events ub they had recently witnessed absolutely impossible. Anybody who had seen the officers and men of tho Irish Divisions together in France must hnvo been struck by the newness of tho situation and the lesson it taught. Theso men were doing their best shoulder to shoulder in the field irrespective of thoir differences in the past. They were suffering and making great sacrifices, and it ought to bo tho aim of every man in this country to do all in his power to settle tho Irish question on lines which would bo satisfactory to alj parties. At any rate, it was impossible for any man who had been as long in this struggle as ho had and had seen what had taken placo between Ulstermen and the men of other provinces in Ireland in tho course of the war not to feel that amid all the disaster, misfortune, and suffering which had occurred, one good thing was springing up —that was a spirit which would make for ii happy, contented, and -united Ireland,, which would in its turn do much for this country and would make Ireland under proper conditions just as Toady to defend the Empire as tho people of any other part of that Empire. (Cheers.) It was natural that such a speech, from a member in tho position of Majok Redmond should ho accorded the courtesy of Ministerial acknowledgment, and it is interesting to observe that the note struck by Major Redmond was well sustained by Mr. Bonak Law in his reply. After congratulating Major Redmond, the Leader of tho Hokkg of Commons proceeded as follows:

Tho dosiro for a now slato o£ things in Ireland, if it can bo attained, is not oonfincd to Ireland; it is shared by ovory •man, woman, and child in tit* United Kingdom, (Cheers.) In my view, it is a groat thing, in apite of thu rebellion, that for the first time in our history the official Nationalist Party lias been on the side of tho Enipira in tho war in which we aro cngagea. (Cheers.) But I shall say something more. Major Redmond has pictured to us what id happening at tho front. It was pictured yesterday by Major Shaw. I think it is well for us here that we should. realiso how small in reality aro all the incidents which aro exciting us at homo—even changes of Government, appointments of personalties, and everything of that kind —how small it is except as an instrument to givo support to tho nie.a who ar-o risking their lives on our behalf. (Cheers.) . . . That the lion, and gallant gentleman (Major Redmond), who, 1 suppose, is nearly us old as I am, should havo joined tho Army and have gono I through fcbo hardships he has described is a lesson to every one of va who are m [ ettor; jy.ayq doing whatever jro can. .to gup-

port Ilia same cause. (I'iliMrs.) ]t is lay heartfelt wish, tjuilh ns deeply seated as that of my ft.'il. and gallant, friend, I hat there WL'oukl be some change in ti't feeling tosWoen Ireland and th? Vl'st uf tho United Kingdom ami between, bite \«l'l; of Ireland nud another, Th'oro no wish > feel more sincerely. (Rear., hear.) _So fat- as tile people, of the United Kingdom.are Concerned, tho tmo thing that will influence them on this question will be th'o feeling that tho Irish are willing id Win the risks which are' run by the test of us. Th'o hon. and gallant gentleman himself has done great service to tile Hiio ot Ireland by the fact Unit his lianie and his action bland, out ijs i landmark before all the people ot this couutry of what is Vieinjj done by thoso who represent; Nationalise Ireland. (Cheers.)

Mil. Herbert SAMUEL) an ex-Mi 11jator of the Asquitii . Government) welcomed most 'cordially the tone and general sentiment of Mil. BOnar Law's, remark "If indeed it were possible)" ho said\ "under tho auspices of the present Government to arrive 3.0 anything in the nature of a. Settlement of the Irish question, how warmly would that event bo welcomed not only in Ireland and in Great' Britain) but throughout the whole British. Empire, and how grateful would the House be to any Administration which arrived at so happy a consummation. . . . Tho difficulty which stood in the way was not our quarrel between any party in Great Britain and Ireland; tho outstanding difficulty Was that of devising a practical and 'generally acceptable solution of the divergence of view between Northoast Ulster and the rest of Ireland." These speeches indicate fairly well the prevailing opinions in the House of Commons to-day on the Home Rule question. Mr. Samuel's remarks sum up the situation clearly and accurately, and incidentally he discloses the extremely delicate and difficult naturo of the task which Mr. Asqtjith now suggests should bo entrusted to some group of colonial statesmen. The suggestion in .tho light of what has gone before and the most recent happenings in the House of Commons recorded in our late cable nows in this issue, reads like a forlorn hope, but it would at least possess tho merit of bringing the whole question under review from a new and disinterested point of view.