PRIME MINISTER ON IRELAND

Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1920, Page 4

PRIME MINISTER ON IRELAND

DOMINION HOME lilfLE

' ( London ’Daily Mail)

The Prime Minister indicated the Cabinet's Irish policy iu his speech ,%t Carnarvon on Saturday, Oct. 9th. Me said that during the past 30 or 4p years more had been done to redress the evi's of the past in Ireland Mian in any country in the world. Speakng of conditions in Irelahd. he said: “I am not for the" fiioljient going to examine the reasons. All I can say is if we are to cleat our consciences we must own that the responsibility nrests largely with the past record, of ment in that country,, fof which we tire j: ainly rctpunsihlc. Jhat must be, lin’d whenever you examine the deplorable conditions of thfjt. island, whenever there are things., which, irritate find exi speVate you, flufigsy widen appear to be indefensible upon tne'j facts' of the mor ont, you must look back and examine the records of the ages, find find certain germs of discontent, of. dissatisfaction, of wrongdoing, which were sown by our ancestors on that unfortunate; island. ° I “But nothing that has been done in the past can justify altogether the coh- ! ditions of the present; they may explain it, but they cannot justify it.” REPRISALS.

Referring to outrages and to reprisals, lie said: “During, I think, the last year, 283 policemen have been shot in Ireland, 109 of them shot dead. Something like 100 soldiers have been shot, many more have been fired at. I think that aliout 67 court houses have been burned. There have been attacks upon police barracks. The police endured this patiently, enduring it in a way which is the highest testimony to their discipline and their self-restraint, for two' or three years. There is no doubt that at last their patience has given way, and there has been some severe hitting back. “I never read or heard a word of protest from Sinn Feiners in Ireland. Mr Arthur Griffith, a very able and very distinguished Irishman, communicated to the United States and to the English Press an interview the other day, in which he showed great concern at the prospect of what he thought was gping to be an attack on his own life. I do not believe it in the least. Ido not believe that any attack has been concerted against Mr Arthur Griffith’s life. But I never saw a word from Mr Arthur Griffith displaying any indignation at the killing of 109 policemen in Ireland. “The defence that is put forward for these murders is that there is a state of war. They say that the police are the garrison of a foreign country, and they are entitled to shoot them. If it is a Avar it must be a war on both sides. You cannot have a one-sided war. In war you do not have one set of men standing up to be shot at and never firing back. . ;, '“NOT WAR, BUT MURDER.”

•‘ln war there are men in uniform. The main reason is that you want to distinguish between the combatant and non-combatant. What is the case here? A harmless-looking civilian passes a policeman in the street. There is nothing to indicate he has any murderous weapon upon him; there is nothing to arouse any suspicion in the mind of the policeman that he has any murderous intent. He passes the policeman, and when he has done so he pulls out a revolver and shoots the policeman in the back. Five scores of policeman have been killed in that way. That is not war; it is murder. “If it is war, give the soldier and the policeman a fair chance. Are the police in Ireland to stand to be shot down like dogs in the street without any attempt at defending themselves?

“It is something more than human nature could tolerate, and under those conditions the police are reserving to themselves the right of finding out whether a man is armed or not where they have a suspicion, and they call upon him to put up his hands. If the man is a harmless man, why should he not do it ? When nearly 300 men have been shot the rest are entitled to take precautions for defending themselves, and if that man refuses they have a right to assume he means mischief. Lbt us be fair to these gallant men who are doing their duty in Ireland. Here you stand by your police and you protect them against any unfairness, and you are right. It is all very well for people who are sitting comfortably nt home here, secured from assassins and depredators through the protection of the police, to turn round and pompously criticise them about outrages and discipline when they are defending themselves. ,< “DEMORALISATION.”

“There is a system of demoralisation j*l Ireland that makes it impossible to

find any evidence to convict the murderers. When men are suspected of murder and they escape, it is often impossible afterwards to arrest them because of this conspiracy. Now, when men attempt to escape and they refuse to stop, then undoubtedly the police fire Upon them, ft is the only way in which these men can defend themselves.

“Five policemen were driving along ii road in Ireland. They were suddenly fired at by civilians. If a policeman had seen the assassins ten minutes before he would have thought they were harmless farmers. They vise softnosed explosive bullets. A second car with police came up in two minutes. It was what the assassins did not reckon with. Finding these men not merely killed, but mutilated almost be--1 vend description, torn—l could not give you the horrible details of what happened. The second car came up. They j saw their comrades not merely murder- ! cd, but mutilated. They found the men who undoubtedly were the assassins, and they shot them. Are you surprised ? i “That is called reprisals, and that is called murder when the police do it. I never saw this anxiety to denounce murder when a hundred and nine policemen were shot down when they were trj ing to ; , do their duty. . “An official'of the Irish' Government, an old man, was driving in a tramwaycar in Dublin. A number of young men came in. When you see a number of respectably dressed men coining into a tiamway-car you 'do not assume they are going to murder you. But when they came fight up to him they whipped out a revolver and forced him to go out, when they shot him in the street. These things have been done with ini’-

punity in Ireland. .There, were lhen who saw this murder. No one gave evidence, hbbiit the assassination, and the' polich naturally felt that the time had cohie for them to defend themselves. . “All these cases-are very carefully investigated,’ ttiid I iim hot gdihg to express fin opinion upon them until the facis have been brought out by a care-f-il inquiry. “KXUftDEIt GANG.”

“I am asking the country to reserve J jpdgmeiii about men who, in great iJifficußies, have shown infinite restraint, and not. to think they are mere murderers t >vandering about shooting innocent citizens. “How are you going to improve upon this condition of things in Ireland? Undoubtedlly must restore order there by methods very stern. You cannot permit the country to be debased into a condition of complete anarchy, where a small body of assassins, a real murder gang, are dominating the coun-. try and terrorising it. Therefore it is essential in the interests of Ireland that that gang should be broken up. Unless I am mistaken we shall do it. ! “There are people now who want something far beyond anything which wdilld have been regarded as possible within the category of Home Rule. I 1 protest against the doctrine that you ’ should go further anct give more not because Ireland needs it, not because it is fair to the United Kingdom, but be- ) cause crime has been more successful. * It is a fatal doctrine for any Government.

“Give it because it-is right, give it because it is just, give it because it is good for Ireland and good for the United Kingdohi, give it because it brings peace and goodwill, but don t give it because you, are bullied by assassins. Why are we asked to go further than Mr Gladstone was prepared to go? They say because Mr Gladstone’s, measure satisfied Ireland then and it does not now. There is a question I should like to ask. Is satsfying; Ireland in an angry.rhood, which I think will pass, is satisfyihg Ireland in a phase of its temper, which I think is purely effervescent, satisfyihg Ireland when it has got over tfiht sulky disposition, which we all have ? If we satisfy Ireland in that temper then there is nothing in view hilt ah independent Republic for Ireland. - . ... - .... “PROSPECT OF Cl\ y IU WAR.”

“There are men w.ho would say, ‘Give it Dominion Home Rule.’ I have asked repeatedly in the House or Commons, on the platform, of deputations .of Labour, of deputations from Ireland to name a single Irishman who has got the authority to speak for his countrymen, whc would accept Dominion Home Rule.' So, if satisfying the present opinion of Ireland is ah essential condition of settlement, there is only one thing you can do: cut Ireland adrift, cut the paihter, let them set up an independent Republic, an absolutely independent nation. “And that will not satisfy them. They will want Ulster. Ulster will have something to say to that. When we are trying to restore peace to the world we don’t want to negotiate a civil war at our own doors. “Ulster will not have an independent Irish Republic, and therefore you would simply have the prospect of civil uar. For reasons which I will give you later you could hot have an independent Irish Republic if- the whole of Ireland agreed and demanded it, any more than you could have ah independent Republic in Wales. “There is a limit, as Abraham Lincoln discovered, to the disruptive rights of a minority. The Southern States of America had just as good a right to-set rip an independent Republic as Ireland. Wales, or Scotland. They were a distinct community. Gladstohe thought they ought to have been allowed to do it at that time. History how shows that Abraham Lincoln was absolutely right in saying there is a limit to the light which even a separate community has to tear up a large combination that has been working together for common ends.

SUBMARINE BASES. “Let us examine tliis proposition of Dominion Home, Rule. There is Lord Grey’s letter. Lord Grey is a friend of mine; and I have the deepest respect for him. There are parts pf his letter I like and tliere are parts I don’t Idee. But at any irate .Lord Grey is opposed to lull Dominion Home Rule, because he says, and says rightly, that you cannot give to Ireland the right to organise a separate army and navy. I should have thought that was common sense, but the proposal which lie puts forward, and which goes very far, Mr de Valera has repudiated with indignation, I might almost say with insult. He won’t look at it. He said, “We are an independent country, and jf Great Britain liked to send peace plenipotentiaries to discuss with us the independent republic of Ireland, the terms of a peace between two great countries, well, we will condescend to meet them.’ “The country which broke down the domination of Germany, very largely—the greatest empire in the. world—is flattered by the knowledge that Mr de Valera will receive our plenpiotentiaries. “Dominion Home Rule means that they can organise their own army and navy. As Lord Grey points out, they can organise submarine . bases. They have got full command of all the ports of Ireland, and Lord Grey says lie could not consent to that. But Mr Asquith agrees to that. I put to him a question in the H° use °f Commolis. I.said, .‘You arc talking about Dominion Home Rule. The Dominions have got armies and navies of their own, their ports are entirely in their control, they can shut their ports against British ships, and we know perfectly well we could not interfere. Would yog give the same rights to Ireland ? Anything short of that is not Dominion Home Rule.’

- MR ASQUITH’S LETTER. “Mr Asquith was not prepared to answer, but what lie refused to tell the House of Commons he has communicated to his old friend Lore! Northcliffe. Mr Asquith has written q letter to The. Times. I am amazed. What has the poor old Daily News done that it should be snubbed publicly in this way?, (Laughter). The Daily News, the faithful watchdog that barbed aridsnapped and worked itself up into a state of hydrophobia whenever, anyone looked across at Mr Asquith! And here is a bone, not much meat on it, but

still a, bone, and it is given to the dog that bit him in the leg and, according to him, chased him out of Downnigqtreet. (Laughter.) And there is the Manchester Guardian, neglected, boneless, meatless! But they received it with meek submission, both of them.,, ‘•But The Times is Mr Asquith’s official organ, and he tells, us there that he proposes complete add full Dominion Home Rule. We have done without conscription here, but if there is Domhiioh Home Rule in Ireland there will he conscription here too. You cannot have an army Of five or six hundred thousand in Ireland commanded by Mr Arthur Griffith's and Michael Collins, who vowed the destruction of this country, and only an army of about a hundred thdusniid here.

“A navy? Mr Griffiths says, ‘Wliy not?’ It is saici they won’t be so foolish as to spend money on a navy. You do not need to spend much on submarines. And mines you can have, and they are cheap, , , “REAL PERIL” IN,THE WAR. “Do you know that Ireland was our worry during the war? Ireland was a real peril. They were iri touoh with German submarines. There it stands at the gateway of Britain. You cannot turn to the right, you cannot turn to the. left, except by either the right or left, gate of Ireland; and I saw a map the other day that was captured, a German map, a map circulated to show how Britain was having her Fleet destroyed, and the coast of Ireland was black with British ships that were sunk, in the Atlantic, in the Irish Sea, in the St. George’s Channel. It is girdled with British wrecks; yes, and British seamen are there too. And we are to hand over Ireland, to be made a base of a submarine fleet, and we are to trust to luck in our next w r ar! Was there ever such lunacy proposed by anybody ? “We are not going to quail before a combination of a handful of assassins in any part of the British Empire. Hand our ports over to Ireland, the gateway of Great Britain- They might starve us.

“In 1914 Ireland approved of the war. We entered the war with the approval of every Irish representative. In 1916 they were shooting down in the streets of Dublin British soldiers, many of them not recovered from wounds received in the war. In 191/ and 1918 they were conspiring with German submarines, and we discovered documents in the pockets of men who were arreste 1 in 1918, showing they were prepared, within two months of a. German offensive that they knew of, to raise a huge force in Ireland to stab Britain in the back when it was engaged in a life and death struggle for the freedom of the world. What a change! You are asked to trust the destinies of Britain and the Empire to people who are apt to get fits ef passion that sweep away all reason and make them swing violently from one extreme to another in the middle of a great conflict. You must not ignore these great facts. PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE.

“So far. as I am concerned, arid I am speaking on behalf of the Government, we shall certainly resist out-and-out any attempt for an army or navy being set up in Ireland at our doors to menace the existence of the United Kingdom. “I will tell you another thing that Dominion Home Rule means. It means they have control over their own

finances from top to bottom, and do not

pay any share of the debts. They are not our debts, the war debt is not entirely ours ; we voted for the war, and so did the Irish members, and you cannot have a war and say you won’t pay for it afterwards. It would mean that

Irishmen would he paying infinitely less than the working men of this country. Their income tax would be Is 6d in the pound; our income tax here is from 6s to 10s in the pound. “It is asked: ‘What are you going to give them?’ We are going to give them our Bill. Said Mr Asquith: ‘That is a paltry compromise.’ Is it?” The Prime Minister outlined the provisions of the Bill, and added: “Supposing all the land in Wales had been bought, given to the tenant farmers at a 2£ per cent rate of interest, and that 2} per cent were given as a present by the Imperial Parliament to the Welsh farmers to begin business, would you go shooting down soldiers in the streets here because you are a trampled nationality. It is a sham and a fraud the whole of this nationality cry.” The Prime Minister afterwards received the freedom of Bangor.